Amor Leonis
by Liraeyn
Summary: AU season 2.  When the team encounters a mysterious message written in blood, they realize they must help their worst enemy.
1. Creepy

This is still not mine. Okay, the plot is mine. This is set sometime in Season 2.

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It was a typical day in Washington DC, if there is such a thing. A girl and her father were walking down a street. Their conversation was not so typical.

Their impeding discovery was even less so.

"That is not a creepy thing for a 13-year-old girl to say."

"But they said-"

"Hey, I'm telling you, there is nothing creepy about a 13-year-old girl saying that-"

"Okay; I got it." The girl leaned against a nearby car. "I still think-"

The car's alarm went off, loudly and shrilly. The father swore flamboyantly, looking around for the car's owner. "Whose car is this?"

Nobody answered, but a policeman, who had apparently been ticketing one of the cars on the other side of the street, ran over. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, we just- this isn't our car-" The alarm stopped as abruptly as it had begun.

"Well, I'll just take a look around to see if anything's wrong."

He tried the door handle. Surprisingly, it opened. Grabbing his radio, he yelled into it. "I need backup! And get an ambulance!"

The girl and her father poked their heads around the car door and gasped in unison.

A woman lay across the back seat, which, along with part of her long, dark hair, was stained blood red.

Startled speechless, the girl and her father noticed several things.

1. There was a black leather jacket draped across the woman's body.

2. There was blood smeared on the outside of it.

3. The blood wasn't just smeared. It was- fingerpainted?

Therefore:

4. Someone had written a message in blood.

The father spoke first. "What's NCIS?"

The girl shrugged. "Now that's creepy no matter who said it."

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	2. Unidentified

Still not mine.

Okay, I don't really know an awful lot about how they would investigate this sort of thing, so I'm sort of going with what makes sense. You are welcome to correct any mistakes.

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Kate was furious. Tony and McGee had been taking turns throwing wads of paper at her for hours on end. She was determined to ignore them at first, but eventually gave up.

"Can you guys _please_ stop doing that? You're driving me crazy!" They grinned at her. She sighed. "Okay, scratch that; it doesn't bother me. At all."

Tony laughed. "Good!"

Kate rolled her eyes. Tony prepared to launch another wad at her, but he quickly desisted when Gibbs walked in.

"Keep doing that, you two, and you'll be seeing quadruple."

McGee rushed to defend himself. "Boss, it was Tony's idea-"

"I don't care. Grab your gear!"

They complied quickly, as Gibbs seemed unusually edgy. Only Tony dared to ask.

"What is it? A training accident that's actually murder that's actually suicide? A murder that's actually fake that's actually real?"

"A stolen car that might not actually have been stolen that's actually an ambulance, with a gunshot victim in it who might be the perpetrator. Call Ducky!"

"Who died?"

"I never said she was dead. Ducky's going to go to the hospital to get us an injury report."

"Okay, I repeat: who's the victim?" Kate was getting slightly irritated with her boss.

"They couldn't identify her."

McGee was confused. "Then why are they calling us?"

"Two things," Gibbs replied. "The car belongs to a Navy lieutenant, and someone wrote "NCIS" in blood on the woman's jacket."

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"You know, I think Gibbs' gut is bothering him about this one."

"Well, it should be. I mean, this is more than a little strange."

Tony nodded. Snapping a handful of photos, Kate took a few samples of the blood on the jacket before placing it in an evidence bag.

Meanwhile…

"Uh, Boss?" McGee was slightly hesitant to catch Gibbs' attention.

"Yeah, McGee?"

"Nobody saw the car get parked or if anyone else was in it. I'm working on getting surveillance videos to see if we can get something off of them."

"Okay. There's not much else we can do here. Get this towed back to Abby."

"On it, Boss!"

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At the hospital, Ducky was watching the unidentified woman, who slept peacefully. _Something about her reminds me of- someone… _He sighed, irritated by his lapse in memory. _It's so easy for me to remember all these random stories, but not the only one that's actually relevant? _

_But have I actually seen her before or did I just see someone who looks like her… _

The thought rang a bell, but before he could completely understand what his mind was getting at, he was interrupted.

One of the hopsital's interns walked in and handed him a folder. "Here's the report you wanted, sir."

"Ah, thank you."

He opened the folder and flicked through it. Gunshot wounds to the left knee and the right side of the lower ribs… not terribly unexpected. But then when he got to the part about treatment…

All they'd had to do, really, was give her a blood transfusion. Someone else had already bandaged her up, and the report mentioned that they must have known what they were doing…

Suddenly he realized who the woman reminded him of. He grabbed his phone, only to remember that he was not allowed to use it in the hospital. He got up to leave, but then realized that someone should probably keep an eye on the woman. He sighed again.

_Jethro, can you please come here, quickly… _

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Author's note: If anybody can see where this is going, review, and you get a probie snack. Or a Caf-Pow!, if that's what you would prefer. Just please review.


	3. Memories and Anger

I do not own NCIS, just the plot…

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He had to find her. Had to know if she was okay. To know if it had been worth it.

But he couldn't. Not yet, anyway. First he had to finish what they had started.

He weighed the gun in his hands, anger boiling up inside him. They would be sorry when he finally found them.

Painfully so.

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"What d'you got, Abs?"

Abby was lying on the roof of the car, waving a luminol over the seat.

"I'm checking for any more traces of blood. I got a bunch already, and I'm running the DNA and any other test I can think of, because I know you need results ASAP…"

"Okay, just-" Gibbs was cut off short.

"I'll let you know as soon as I get any results!"

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Gibbs walked into the bullpen. "Talk to me!"

Tony went first. "The car belongs to Lieutenant Henry Wayne. He's on vacation with his family; the neighbor reported it stolen about-" he checked something on his computer- "thirty seconds before it was found. Interesting."

"Kate! Any ideas?"

"Well, I shouldn't need to tell you that someone is trying to get our attention."

"Yeah, I got that."

"The car was stolen from a family on vacation- they didn't need it."

Gibbs nodded. "On purpose?"

"It's difficult to say- I do know you don't believe in coincidences- but if she stole the car to get to the hospital, she wouldn't have had much time to pick the car…"

"Maybe _she_ didn't steal the car." Gibbs had one of his characteristic looks in his eyes as he sipped his coffee thoughtfully.

"You think someone else did, and put her in it?"

"Well, she was injured and unconscious, and the car alarm… I need to talk to Ducky." He left abruptly.

Tony was confused. "The car alarm?"

Kate nodded, having caught Gibbs' hidden point. "He means the alarm wasn't set off by the girl leaning against the car. Whoever left the woman in it had the remote –probably broke into the Waynes' house and stole it- and hit the panic button so people would find her."

"Okay, I see your point. But right now we need to focus on identifying this chick-" he clicked the button on the remote, pulling a photo of the woman onto the plasma. Turning around, he suddenly ducked as Kate flung one of the paper wads back at him. "Sorry, Katie. 'We need to'-" Again he ducked, covering his arms as another wad bounced off his ear. "Take it easy!"

Kate had no intention of taking it easy. She gathered up all of the papers and launched them at Tony one after the other. "You are such a chauvinistic, misogynistic, self-centered piece of-"

In the middle of Kate's tirade, McGee walked in carrying three coffees. He sat down at his desk and sipped one of them, content to watch.

Eventually, Kate ran out of paper and settled for glaring at Tony, her fury not entirely spent. Tony wisely made for the exit, muttering something about "go help Abby". Before he reached the elevator, he was accosted by McGee. "Hey Tony! We had an agreement!" Tony sighed and pulled forty dollars out of his wallet, handing the money to McGee.

Kate turned to McGee. "What was that?" McGee smiled. "Tony and I had a bet on who you would get mad at first- me or him." Kate rolled her eyeballs, glaring at them both. Tony smirked and disappeared.

Kate walked over to McGee's desk and grabbed her coffee, smiling. McGee handed her two of the bills.

"It was fun watching that. And now we can work without Tony bothering us!"

Kate agreed. "I love this job! I get paid to yell at Tony!" Laughing, they set about getting a name to go with the face of the mystery woman.

"Gibbs and Ducky will probably get her prints, and Abby has her DNA, so let's try facial recognition."

"Where do we start?"

"Try customs over the last couple of months."

"Why?"

"Call it a gut feeling."

"Okay… This is going to take a while. Any way we could narrow it down?"

"Female, probably late twenties or so, and you can rule out anyone who has a driver's license in the D.C. area, because we already checked those. Do you think Gibbs has any idea what this is about?"

"Probably, but he won't tell us; he expects us to figure it out." McGee shook his head and typed a bunch of commands into his computer.

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"You sure about this, Duck?"

Ducky nodded. "I even examined the injuries myself and reached the same conclusion as the doctors who treated her."

Gibbs sighed and shook his head. "You know, I'd kind of thought this whole thing could just be over, but now…? Anything could happen." He gestured at the woman, who still hadn't woken. "Who do you think she is? Girlfriend?"

"It's hard to say, Jethro. But, you know, we all have _someone_, even those of us who are…"

"Complete bastards? Yeah, I know…"

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"What do you got, Abs?"

Abby spun around from her computer. She seemed startled.

"You're not Gibbs; you stole his line!"

"He's still at the hospital talking to Ducky, and I'm just wondering if you have anything yet." He held up a Caf-Pow!. "Could you be enticed to share?"

Abby happily seized the drink and slurped it. "I can say with reasonable accuracy that mystery chick didn't write the message- the angle's wrong for how she was positioned. It does match her type, though, so it could be her blood smeared by someone else after she passed out, but I'll have to wait for DNA to confirm or deny it."

"Don't call her a chick- I did, and Kate lost it at me."

Sighing, Abby set her Caf-Pow! down and handed Tony a twenty-dollar bill.

"This is the last time I bet against Kate getting mad at you."

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Author's note: Wow, this chapter is a lot longer than I usually write. I guess my muse just decided to be really nice to me. Also, no, the woman is not Shannon, Kelly, or Jenny. But we do know her!


	4. What Just Happened?

I do not own this; please don't sue me.

Author's note: Finally, we get to know who the mystery woman is- sort of.

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Tony and Gibbs walked around the Waynes' house, snapping pictures of some blood droplets they had found. "It looks like someone was injured."

"Ya think, DiNozzo?"

Tony sighed and followed the trail around the corner of the house. "There's more blood here. Maybe they stopped to rest?"

Gibbs was collecting samples from the trail. He looked up at Tony's voice. "Abby will tell us, but it's probably the woman's blood."

"Yep. By the way, any particular reason why Kate is keeping an eye on her, and not me?"

"Yeah, DiNozzo. And no; I'm not going to tell you."

The back door was kicked in. Someone had grabbed the entire key rack and dumped it out all over the kitchen table. "So they do have the clicker. That settles it, then."

Gibbs glanced around. "There's nothing else here; we'd be better off back at the office."

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"What d'you got, Abs?"

Abby spun around, pigtails flaring out. "_That_'s more like it." She reached for the Caf-Pow! Gibbs held, but he yanked it out of her reach. "Tell me what you found."

She was disappointed, but she continued. "Using the blood patterns, the way she was positioned, and the injury report, I can pretty much reconstruct much of what happened." She hit a couple of keys on her computer, bringing up photos of the blood trail. "I'm presuming it's her blood, but I'm checking the DNA anyway. It's kind of hard to tell if she was walking or if someone else was carrying her, - I think someone was probably carrying her- but whoever it walked around the house-"

"Yeah, I got that."

"-then they set her down against the wall, broke into the house, stole the keys, picked her up again, and dragged her to the car-"

"They didn't want to leave her for any longer than they had to."

"And I know why, but we'll get to that in a bit."

"What?"

Abby hit some more keys and pictures of the back seat of the car appeared. "There's some smearing on the carpet, and blood from the injuries soaked into the cloth on the seat. The Waynes' are really going to want to get this cleaned once they get back. Anyway, she was treated after she'd been in the car for a little while."

"So they put her in the car, drove her somewhere safe, bandaged her up, drove her to a crowded street, and left a message in her blood so we'd find her."

"Except it's not her blood."

"You got a match on the DNA? I thought it would take longer."

"It does; I don't have a name for either one yet, but it's not her DNA. The blood belongs -belonged, I guess- to her paternal half brother."

"So that's why he was taking care of her."

Abby nodded. "Can I have my Caf-Pow! now?"

Gibbs handed her the drink, kissed her on the cheek, and walked out of her lab.

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"Anything?"

"Tony, I told you I'd tell you as soon as I got anything."

"But Gibbs is going to want something and we have nothing yet!"

"Relax; I just got something while you were whining. There's a shot of the-" he took a quick look at the computer screen before posting it on the plasma- "guy who left her in the car, but I can't get a look at his face- the picture quality isn't that great."

"So we have nothing."

"Not quite. He's of average height and build, short, dark hair, and he's wearing black."

"And he left his jacket with the woman. I wonder if there was other clothing removal going on-"

Tony reeled as Gibbs smacked him on the back of his head. "Get your mind out of the gutter, DiNozzo; Abby says they're half siblings."

"Oh. That makes sense, too, I suppose."

"Yeah. Now get back to work; I'm going to see if there's any change-"

McGee's computer dinged. It had been scanning through photos since the previous day, and had finally gotten a hit.

"Hey, guys- I got a match!"

Tony put down the copy of GSM he had been reading and sat up. "Finally! We've been waiting long enough. Who is she?"

Typing away, McGee started to answer, than hesitated.

"McGee! It's not a trick question!" Gibbs was quickly becoming infuriated with his youngest agent.

"Well, there's kind of a trick answer. It says here her name's Elena Ranier, but-"

"What?"

"I can't find any record of her before or since, so I'm assuming it's a fake name."

"Is there anything else?"

"She came from France to the U.S. about 3 weeks ago. I'll get security cameras from the airport."

"Did she say why she's here?"

"Um-" McGee hit a few more keys. "No, nothing."

Gibbs sighed. "My asking was a formality, McGee. You're required to give a reason."

"Yeah, but she didn't."

Tony was seriously perplexed. "How's that possible?"

Gibbs rolled his eyes. "She's a pretty woman, DiNozzo. How hard could it be for her to get a customs guy to do what she wants?"

Tony opened his mouth, but then closed it, realizing that Gibbs was right. "So basically all we have is that she's here to do something illegal –probably what got her shot- and we really need to find her brother."

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The trigger was cold.

Cold and deadly. Just like him.

Unless, of course, she was around. She could still, somehow, find a way to thaw him out.

The original target walked across the window he was watching. Lining up the rifle to aim it at the man, he waited. After a few minutes, his two bodyguards came into view.

_Finally- those _bastards_ who hurt her. _

He wanted it to hurt. Wanted them to suffer. But he knew better than to draw it out. The important thing was to kill them.

Which he would.

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Kate sat in a chair near the bed, watching the woman sleep. She was pretty, with dark, curly hair that had been tied back in a ponytail. Flipping her own hair over her shoulder, Kate inspected it, suddenly reminded of the time Tony had made up a story about a dog named Kate.

Laughing, she walked over to the window and surveyed the street below. A motorcycle parked along the opposite curb caught her attention. Someone –too far away for her to see clearly- was watching the window. Kate shaded her eyes, trying to see better- and the motorcycle drove off like Gibbs on a case that was seriously personal.

_What just happened? _

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Author's note: So, how am I doing?


	5. April Fool

Okay, I know you guys are going to hate me, but I really can't continue this story. It's just not working. Sorry to those of you waiting for updates.


	6. Discovery

I do not own NCIS, still. I do, however, wonder if I can get credit for advertising them everywhere I go- wearing the hat, sometimes wearing the t-shirt, drinking out of the Caf-Pow!, convincing (or at least trying to convince) everyone I know to watch it…

I'm sorry for any angst on your parts when I wrote that I wasn't going to continue this. I just couldn't really resist April Fools-ing you guys once. On the other hand, I am very encouraged by your responses. It's nice to know people would miss me (or at least my writing). And don't worry; I'm not going to abandon any of my stories.

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"Boss, I've got something!"

"What, McGee?"

"Security footage from the airport 'Elena' arrived in- here."

He pressed a few keys and the video came up on the plasma. Tony and Gibbs walked over to it and watched, while McGee narrated.

"She's getting off the plane, she's grabbing her checked bag-"

"Why would she check her luggage? If she's here to shoot someone, wouldn't she pack as lightly as possible?"

"I know, and that's not exactly a small suitcase, which is probably why her travelling companion is pulling it for her- here..." McGee hit a few keys, and the camera zoomed in on the man walking next to Elena. "I'm presuming that's her brother-"

The camera zoomed in on his face. Tony and McGee were rather startled, Gibbs almost relieved. Tony shook his head. "I did not see that coming."

"Well, I did."

"Really?"

Gibbs nodded. His phone rang. Glancing at the caller i.d., he answered it. "What d'ya got, Abs?"

"That phrase is supposed to be accompanied by a Caf-Pow! delivery- you know, it doesn't matter, because I got a hit on the brother's DNA, and you're not going to believe who he is."

Gibbs glanced at the plasma again. "Ari."

Down in her lab, Abby was furious. "I spent all this time running his DNA, and then you just know? You owe me at least 2 Caf-Pow!s."

"I know, Abby; I'll see you later." Gibbs ended the call and commenced another. "Kate! Keep an eye out- Ari's back in town."

On the other end, Kate was keeping clear of the hospital's windows while she and Gibbs talked. "Yeah, I think I just saw him watching her window."

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She was aware first of breathing. Her own. Then there were a few other sounds. A steady _blip-blip_ she eventually realized was a heart monitor. Someone else in the room, talking on her phone. A male voice on the other end, giving the woman instructions. She tried to hear more, but only caught the woman's "hasn't woken up yet" before she lapsed back into unconsciousness.

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Three bullets through the window. One each. That was all it ever took. He had tried to tell their superiors, but they never listened to him. And it had almost cost his sister her life.

_And they wonder why I hate them so much. _

He sighed and picked up his cell phone, punching in the number he had obtained. It beeped and went straight to voicemail.

There was Gibbs' voice: "How does this work?"

Shuffling, followed by a slightly hesitant "Um, Boss?"

He had to laugh. _That's got to be that computer whiz, McSomethingorother. _

The young agent's voice came more clearly over the phone. "This is Special Agent Gibbs' phone. Leave your message after the beep and he'll eventually figure out how to get back to you."

Just before a mechanical _beep_ signaled the start of the recording, there was an unmistakable _smack_ from the other end.

"Special Agent Gibbs. I was just wondering if you got my package. Also, you might want to trace this call. I left something here you might be interested in. If, that is, you ever figure out how to listen to your messages. Oh, and by the way, don't hit your agents so much. It kills their brain cells."

Still chuckling, he hung up. _Time to go… _Someone had apparently noticed the dead bodies, as a couple of police cars were en route, sirens blaring.

_Don't even bother. You'll never catch me. _

He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and scribbled an address on it. A smirk touched his lips.

_Have fun with that one. _

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Please review! Pretty please?


	7. Flash

I don't own NCIS. That fact has not changed since the last chapter. What has changed is that I turned 17, my siblings came home, and one of my cats (Caroline) died, in that order. Sigh. Well, on to the story. I hope you enjoy.

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"McGee!"

"Yeah, Boss?"

Gibbs tossed his phone over. "It's flashing weirdly. Fix it."

"Uh, Boss? That's the voicemail icon… On it!"

Gibbs rolled his eyes, sipping his coffee as he waited for McGee to finish. The young agent's eyes grew wide as the message played. After it ended, he handed the phone to Gibbs.

"You'd better hear this, and I'm going to trace it. I'll check all the calls coming through the cell towers at the time of the call, and then…"

Gibbs glared at him with his usual "just do it" look.

McGee decided that it would be a good idea to just do it.

Tony poked his head around his computer and watched as Gibbs' face changed from mildly curious to slightly startled to absolutely furious.

"What's up, Boss?"

Gibbs tossed him the phone. "Listen to this, then figure out how that _asshole_ got my number. McGee, are you done tracing that thing yet?"

McGee quickly got done tracing that thing yet. "It's a house right by- here's the address."

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When the team pulled up at the house, they were unsure whether or not to be surprised at the number of police cars encircling the residence across the street. They figured that they should probably check out the second house first. Which made it the first house. Whatever.

There were three bodies lying on the kitchen floor, each with blood stains around the holes in their heads.

"What happened here?" Tony wondered aloud. "It looks like they got shot."

"Really, DiNozzo; what tipped you off? The holes in their heads? The holes in the window? Move over." Gibbs walked over to where the nearest body had been standing. "So I'm right here and I get hit by a bullet through the window… Shooter was on the roof over- right where the call came from. Go check it out. I'll get Ducky in here."

!i!i!i!i!i!i!

An odd assortment of objects cluttered the roof- a few dead leaves, a lost Frisbee, a dozen or so dead bugs, a live kitten, and three shell casings.

"I'll bag and tag the shell casings, McProbie."

"Thanks Tony; that's really nice-"

"You get the McKitten back on solid ground."

"Tony, I-"

"You what?"

"Never mind; I'll get the kitten."

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The woman shifted under the blanket, which slid off her. Kate moved to drag it back over her, but then noticed something strange. Grabbing her phone, she left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Gibbs, when you eventually listen to your messages, this is Kate, and no; the woman hasn't woken up yet, but I noticed she has a scar on her shoulder- it almost looks like an old bullet wound… I'm not very good at scars, but if it was, that could explain Ari's habit of shooting people's shoulders out, like it's some sort of revenge fantasy…"

!i!i!i!i!i!i!

Her eyes abruptly flew open. _Where the Hamas am I? This is NOT where I was… Oh, it's a hospital. Good call, whoever's it was… _

She felt around her neck for her Star of David. Good. It was still there. But there was something stuck to the back of it…

!i!i!i!i!i!i!

Kate walked back into the room. Her inner profiler automatically knew that the woman was pretending to be asleep. "'Elena'? How are you-"

The woman blew on one of her hands, which had been resting near her mouth. Kate barely registered some sort of powder before it knocked her out like a dark.

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Flashback:

A swarm of bullets ricocheted overhead. She was reasonably protected inside a doorway that lead to- well, she wasn't entirely interested in the floor plan of the warehouse. All she knew was that their target –a former Mossad officer- used the building as a base for smuggling weapons for Hamas.

All she knew was that he had to die.

Really, that was all either of them ever bothered to know.

Glancing over to her brother, she caught his eye just as their enemies ceased firing and reloaded their guns.

One of the guards made the final, fatal mistake of looking up. A bullet from her gun drove the point home. Do not mess with the deadly duo. It _will_ be the last thing you ever do.

One down, three guards and one target to go.

Ari jumped back behind a stack of boxes, but the time his sister had taken to kill the guard had cost her, and put her squarely in range of the remaining guards.

Fortunately, most of the bullets missed her.

Unfortunately, one didn't, and buried itself in her knee.

Caught in the danger zone, she struggled to drag herself to safety. Ari ran out from behind the boxes, worried. Flinching, he tried to shake off the déjà vu crashing down. It didn't work.

As bad memories threatened to overwhelm him, he managed to grab her and drag her behind the wall she'd been using for her cover. Mercifully, the physical exertion drove the memories of Tali's death from his mind. He had to focus on helping the sister he had left.

She gasped in pain, trying to shut off her demon nociceptors. _Come on, block it out, block it out… _

Her usual technique kicked in quickly enough for her to realize that Ari was dragging her back behind the wall. Back in relative safety, Ari gave his sister a quick checkup. The bullet hadn't done much damage, but it still hurt.

Distracted as he was by brotherly protectiveness, Ari didn't catch the leader's shouted command, didn't hear the three remaining guards as they ran towards the hideout, didn't even notice when two of them discovered the siblings' temporary refuge.

She jumped up, ignoring the pain in her knee as she grabbed her brother's gun and shoved him out of the way. The nearest guard fell, dead.

The rest was mostly a blur- pain in her chest… Ari screaming her name… her own desire to be all right, just for him… a vague sense of movement… -then everything went black, leaving behind only a sense of bitter failure.

!i!i!i!i!i!i!

As the guard fell to the ground –a bullet in his head- the remaining two expeditiously ushered their leader out to his car. Ari ran after them and fired- _Crap. Bullet-proof glass. _

Well, he would have to deal with them later.

After quickly checking to make sure that the guards were, in fact, dead, he returned to his unconscious sibling. She stirred feverishly, then her eyes flickered open as she coughed. Blood trailed down her cheek.

Gathering her into his arms as gently as possible, he ran to the nearest house.

_I've got to get out of here. That and get her some help… _

Nobody was home, although a black car was parked in the driveway.

_Why would they… Never mind. I'll just borrow their car for a bit. _

Hoping they were equally careless with their keys, he jogged around to the back of the house, trying not to jostle the woman in his arms. Sure enough, the keys were on a hook next to the –unlocked- glass patio door.

Well.

_Sometimes you have to work for it, and sometimes it just hands itself to you. Whatever "it" is. _

After setting his sister down against the house, he opened the door, retrieved the key, put in his pocket, and dashed back to her.

_Hold on, little sister. Not much longer, and then you can rest. _

Lifting her again, he cuddled her for a moment before he ran out to the car, unlocked and opened it, and laid her on the back seat.

_Now let's get out of here. Someone probably heard the gunshots. _

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The safe house was hidden, back in the woods on a gravel road.

Part of the equipment that Ari always ensured was on location included some basic medical equipment, with which he stabilized his sister's condition. She needed more medical attention soon, but at least he had time to think of what they could possibly do next.

He had to get her to a hospital.

They had to eliminate their target.

She needed help.

They had a mission to complete.

He couldn't just leave her here. There was no way she would survive for that long. She was his _sister_, for crying out loud.

Their "superiors" would probably kill them both if they didn't complete the mission on time. Anyway, their target deserved to die. He had caused the deaths of thousands of innocents.

A few feet over, semiconscious on a nearby bed, she twitched uneasily.

"Ahwri?..."

He had to smile at her baby-talk name for him. Her first word.

He had to get her to a hospital.

Sigh. Back to the beginning, again? Well…

He could drop her off at a hospital, then go and- hope nobody noticed? Or tracked her down later? Hamas would jump at the chance to kill her, and to Mossad she was a liability…

_I would have to stay with her to keep an eye on her, but if I don't kill that arms dealer, my fath- _**Eli** _will have both our heads… Sigh. I'll get someone else to protect her. Who? The FBI, maybe? But no- they talk to Eli too much. NCIS? Ha! That's utterly craz- _

_It could actually work. They hate me, but they wouldn't have to know that she's my sister- I just have to get their attention. I already have the car; I checked it and it belongs to a Navy guy, so-_

She coughed, and more blood came up. Ari swore. _I'd better just work it out as I go. This is __**going**__ to work. It has to. _

!i!i!i!i!i!i!

The street was reasonably busy, but he was confident he could slip away without being seen.

He parked the "borrowed" car along the curb (in a no-parking zone, both to be contrary and in the hopes of getting someone's attention) and got out. When he opened the back door, she didn't even flinch, just lay there, barely breathing. _This is not good. She should have at least __**tried**__ to kill me by now. _

He peeled a tiny capsule off his watch and stuck it to her necklace. She would know what to do with it. Taking off his jacket, he wrapped it around her.

One last thing.

Hoping that nobody would see him and think he was emo or something and stage an intervention, he pulled out his knife from his belt and sliced his arm open. When the blood started to trail down his arm, he smeared it on the jacket. _NCIS. _

_That's probably plenty. Have fun with that one, Agent Gibbs. _

Stroking his sister's hair, he planted a kiss on her forehead.

_Be safe, baby girl. _

V^V^V^V^V^V^V

Author's note: I had no idea that this chapter was going to be so long when I started writing it. I just never got around to posting, and kept scribbling on this notepad I have, and, well, you've just read the result. Please review? And anybody who can guess where I got the alias Elena Ranier (both parts of it) gets a free virtual Caf-Pow!.


	8. Repossession

Still not mine…

V^V^V^V^V^V^V

"Have either of you heard from Kate?"

"Did you try her cell?"

Gibbs glared at his youngest agent. "Why do you think I'm asking? She left me a message about the woman and I tried to call her back like five times, and she's not answering. And McGee?"

"Yes, Boss?"

Smack!

"Change the recording thing on my phone, now."

V^V^V^V^V^V^V

After McGee GPSed Kate's phone as being still at the hospital, Gibbs' worries still weren't alleviated.

"We're going there, now."

"What's your gut say?"

"Something's wrong; I just don't know what."

V^V^V^V^V^V^V

Something was indeed wrong.

The screens were meant to monitor vital signs.

Strictly speaking, they were. Just for the wrong person.

Kate lay across the bed, wires hooked up to her. There was no sign of Ari or his sister.

Gibbs sighed, angry that his enemy had escaped once again. Tony, on the other hand, grinned.

"I hate this guy, but somehow, I'm _almost _starting to like him."

V^V^V^V^V^V^V

Driving at a slightly maniacal speed down the freeway, Ari smiled over at his semi-conscious sister, who rode shotgun. She nodded back, bleary-eyed.

Returning his attention to the road, he sighed. There would be hell to pay when he got back, he knew. But it was worth it.

Any price would be worth it for his sister to be okay.

V^V^V^V^V^V^V

"Abby, did you get the address run yet?"

"Caf-Pow." She held out her hand.

Gibbs sighed. "Here you go. But answer the question."

Abby rolled her eyes before taking a sip and setting her drink down on her desk. "It's a warehouse outside of the city, kind of off by itself, the closest house is the one where the car was stolen... the kind of place, for instance, that you might use as your base if you didn't want to be found. If, that is, you're a Mossad assassin masquerading as a terrorist. I looked at the shipping invoices, and there are a lot of weapons moving through there-"

"But if you're using it for your base, why would you write down your address at all, never mind drop it somewhere, along with the shell casings-"

"Which were kind of hard to trace -I'm still working on it- some sort of rifle, but we already knew that. No prints, no DNA. I did-"

"Thanks, Abs; I think I know what happened."

"-find a cat hair, probably from the kitten McGee rescued, which was grey and black striped, about 4 months old…"

V^V^V^V^V^V^V

A resigned Gibbs, still-laughing Tony, confused McGee, and semiconscious Kate piled out of their car at the warehouse, silently walking through the doors.

Kate's voice broke the silence. "Whoa."

That pretty much summed it up.

Various boxes, boards, crates, and other miscellaneous objects cluttered the warehouse, as might have been expected if they hadn't been full of bullet holes and used shell casings. Dried blood stained the ground between a doorway and a stack of boxes, ending in a trail leading toward the house where, presumably, Ari had stolen the car. Two bodies lay nearby.

Tony commenced his commentary on the current conditions. "So they were fighting these guys, kill two of them, then she gets hurt, he steals the car and gets her to the hospital, then goes and kills the other guys, and repossesses his sister once he's done."

Gibbs nodded. "Yep; that would be my guess."

Kate agreed. "It makes sense that she would be the one person he would care about- he wouldn't just get attached to just anyone, you know."

A grin spread across Tony's face. "What- did you try it? Because really, Kate, he's not your type-"

"DiNozzo, I would whack you over the head, but I think all those dirty thoughts would come flying out of your brain and contaminate the crime scene."

Tony was speechless for a moment. "I'll… go call Ducky."

Kate smirked as she began photographing the scene. Gibbs followed suit, talking to her quietly.

"You think Ari shoots people in the shoulder because that happened to his sister? I guess that would explain it, but I just have to wonder what he did to whoever shot her."

"I imagine the results would not be unlike our current crime scene."

"I suppose."

Kate shuddered, taking a sample of the pool of blood.

"Let's just be glad that his sister didn't get killed."

V^V^V^V^V^V^V

Author's note: So anyway, there will be one more chapter…

Idle thoughts while surfing NCIS's fanfic home page:

1. Not AGAIN!

2. People have WAY too much time on their hands.

3. Oh, dear. Get that picture out of my head!

4. No, you may not turn McGee into a werewolf.

Am I the only one who thinks that fanfic has a little problem?


	9. It Could be Worse

Still not mine…

Okay, I know I said one more chapter, but this wanted to split itself, so I did a Christopher Paolini and there will be one more after this.

V^V^V^V^V^V^V

_Thump-thump… thump-thump… thump-thump… thump-thump…. _

_Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out… _

Her brother was alive. That was good.

She approved of that fact.

He was holding her in his arms while they sat on some sort of soft surface- a couch, perhaps.

She approved of that fact as well.

He was crying. Tears landed in her hair as he kissed her.

She did not approve of that fact. Her brother should be happy.

_well… this… might… _

She shifted slightly and wrapped her arm around his shoulder, shifting herself slightly so she could whisper in his ear.

V^V^V^V^V^V^V

"There's no trace of either of them leaving the country, but I'm sure they would be able to get out if they wanted-"

"Unless they haven't left yet, McHackingintoCustoms, maybe because she's still recovering from getting shot."

McGee and Tony exchanged a look. "Please stop doing that."

"Why?"

"Because I don't deserve it."

"You're a McProbie. All Probies deserve it."

He McSighed. "At the very least, don't make them stupid, okay? I didn't hack Customs; we're allowed to use them in our cases."

"It could be worse."

"How so?"

"We could be putting up with Ari _all_ the time, instead of a couple of days every couple of months. It could be _way_ worse; he could somehow end up working here-"

"Like that would ever happen. Seriously, Tony?"

"Or it could be waaaaaaaaaay better; if that hot sister of his started working here."

"Yeah, right. Ari would probably kill one of us before he let you anywhere near her."

"But she really is hot; long, curly, dark hair, soft creamy skin, beautiful blue eyes…"

"You never saw her eyes, Tony."

"Yeah, I did; I saw her picture from the airport-"

"If you had actually bothered to look, you would have noticed that her eyes are brown."

"Whatever."

V^V^V^V^V^V^V

Author's note: So, one chapter after this. By the way, I take requests (within reason), so if there's a story you want to see me write, review/pm me.


	10. Resolution

Id est non meum.

Okay, _this_ is the final chapter, unless the characters decide to prank me again and make the story longer. They tend to resent my attempts to order them around. Which actually makes sense, since Ari resents authority. Maybe I'm getting a little _too_ in character for him. Hm… Is it possible to turn into one of your characters? If so, maybe I should switch to writing for Sesame Street or something.

V^V^V^V^V^V^V

The guards lay unmoving on the cold cement floor. Ari jogged over to each of them, coming just close enough to fire a round through each of their heads. He didn't bother to check if he'd killed them or they were dead already. It really didn't matter.

A jolt of pain shot through him as he ran to his little sister lying on the ground in a pool of blood. She stirred slightly, mumbling something before she fell back into unconsciousness.

He knelt next to her, brushed a hand over her hair, pressed his lips to her cheek-

And put a bullet through her head.

Standing up, he holstered the gun as he walked out of the warehouse. Oddly, he felt absolutely nothing, no pain, no second-guessing…

For some reason, he looked back just before he shut the door. His sister's unmoving body lay behind the wall that had failed to protect her. Just like he had.

_I'm sorry, Ziva. But I had to. You know what happens if we disobey orders. _

V^V^V^V^V^V^V

The room was utterly dark. Ari sat up abruptly, looking around with wide eyes. He flung the covers back, walked quickly over to the door, flicked the light on, turned around-

His little sister lay across the couch, hair fluttering slightly as she snored. He ran toward her, knelt next to the couch, and flung his arms around her, careful not to squeeze her still-bandaged chest too hard. _I don't want to hurt her. I __**don't**__. That's just my mind playing tricks on me. _

But the nightmare had almost come true. It would have, if he had obeyed orders. She'd been a liability, and he had delayed killing the arms dealer to get her to the hospital.

Remembering how she had looked in his dream, with blood covering her face, he shuddered. _That's never going to happen to you, Ziva. Never. You hear me? Never. _

His legs were cramping from kneeling on a hard floor for too long. He stood up, lifted her slightly, sat down on the couch next to her, and hugged her tightly, tucking her head against his chest.

Ari didn't notice he was crying until Ziva reached up and patted him on the cheek, wiping away the tears. He stroked her hair gently and pressed his lips to the right side of her forehead.

"I love you."

Startled, he clutched her even tighter. He didn't deserve her love. Not after what he'd done, even if it was only a dream. Not after what he'd almost done in real life.

Because he almost had.

Despite what he kept telling himself, and he would have probably told anyone who asked, even her, though he had promised her and himself that he would never lie to her- despite all that, there had been one moment, just one, when he had considered it.

Just one.

She didn't deserve to have to deal with a brother like him. He wasn't good enough for her. He never had been.

As Ari fell into a deep, for once dreamless, sleep, the myriad of thoughts shooting through his head solidified into one ironclad resolution.

_I have to get Ziva out of Mossad. _


End file.
